Mass production of various assemblies involves electric arc welding that pulls welding wire from a container during the welding operation. To supply a continuous wire for the welding operation, containers of wound welding wire are loaded at the wire manufacturer, sealed, shipped and then loaded onto the dispensing mechanism of the automatic welding operation. In the past, large masses of wound welding wire were normally provided in cylindrical drums formed from diverse materials. These drums have been replaced in many instances by cardboard boxes, such as shown in Gelmetti U.S. Pat. No. 5,494,160, Cipriani U.S. Pat. No. 6,481,575 and Barton U.S. Pat. No. 6,564,943. These patents are incorporated by reference as background information showing cardboard boxes for shipping bulk continuous welding wire. At the welding operation, the shipping box is opened and provided with an upper dispensing “hat”, as shown in Gelmetti U.S. Pat. No. 5,494,160 and Cipriani U.S. Pat. No. 6,481,575. A hat may be shipped with the box, but it is normally a standard structure retained at the welding facility and used with several boxes as they are conditioned for the dispensing procedure. Thus, it is common practice to provide a box for bulk welding wire that is combined with a hat for dispensing wire. The present invention relates to a hat formed by structural elements forming a part of the shipping box itself. In the past, the dispensing drum has been provided with an integral hat, as shown in Moore U.S. Pat. No. 6,715,608. This patent is incorporated by reference herein as showing a hat associated with a specific drum and shipped with the drum so that it can be shifted into a dispensing position at the welding operation. This patent is incorporated by reference herein as background to the present invention.